Last year, I had a post “Nobody said it was EASY.”

This is true. I can’t promise you it will be easy, but I can promise you it will be worth it! And as the days go on, you will learn that you’ll have good days and then you’ll have one of the worst days ever. Stress, work, family, loss, gains, injuries, hormones!, etc. It takes a toll. But there is also reward, you can’t forget that. It’s not always doom and gloom but there will be days that you just don’t wanna, and you can’t let THOSE days get in the way.

When my alarm goes off at 4 a.m., I can say that I do not EVER want to wake up. I want to sleep an extra hour.I am not a ray of sunshine at 4 a.m. I’m barely functioning. But I have goals and I NEED to get up and moving at 4 a.m.

When I drive an hour plus to get home in the afternoons, the LAST thing I want to do 80% of the time is change clothes and go work out. Sometimes it’s the FIRST thing I need to do so I don’t go crazy on my family! Although, the couch… the bed… bad food… all sound better. But I have goals.

If you’ve followed me the past year, I was kicking and screaming the first couple of months of 2018. I was like a toddler throwing a tantrum. But again… I HAD GOALS and needed to follow through.

You see, you have to push through the negative. Now you may be a Positive Polly and just have a hop and skip in your everything. I DO NOT! Some days I’m LESS negative, but mostly I’m a whiny baby. Does this help me? Hell NO. It probably makes it 10x harder, but I’m real here. I’m not trying to lead you to believe that my life is perfect and I just pop out of bed, sweat the perfect amount of sweat, and my day just goes along swimmingly. Quite the opposite. I drag myself out of bed. I drag myself to the track. I eventually get warmed up and eventually get some kind of workout in. And then I rush home. Take the quickest shower I can get away with. Make myself some breakfast sometimes, make my kiddos breakfast that they will eat cold 20-30 minutes later… and if it’s a good day, I’m leaving for work on time. My hair is not “fixed”, my make-up is minimal, and I wear the same 5 outfits to work, week after week. I’m really having a good day if I can get my lunch packed and not forget anything! I work all day, and drive for what feels like forever home. I may lie on my bed for 15 minutes. Just cause. But then it’s changing clothes and rushing to my workout or a ball game. Then it’s rushing home to eat, and hopefully converse with my family! Before I know it, it’s 10pm and I’m not in bed again. And the alarm is going to go off at 4 a.m. It’s not relaxing and perfect. It’s the exact opposite. It’s exhausting. But I HAVE GOALS! And yes, I’m a hot mess, y’all!

But then there’s the “WORTH IT” part! I feel better in general! I’ve lost a significant amount of weight! I am not sickly (knock on wood)! I can run better! I can workout out better! I am stronger! I sleep better! I set an example to others, most importantly, to MY FAMILY!

You will have excuses. You will create excuses. You will be the excuse. Break your sad cycle. Stop making excuses! Figure out what you want. Write it down. Shout it from the mountain tops. Tell your friends. Tell your dog. And then take action! You won’t change if you don’t start doing something different. You’re not going to get healthy overnight. You’re not going to get fit in 24 hours.

You will be challenged. You will doubt yourself. You will say at some point in the journey that it’s not worth it. You’ll try to convince yourself that being unhealthy is just who you are. You’ll live your life, it’s fine. You’ve done it for this long already, right? What’s the point?

The point! The point is you can be 30 and feel like shit everyday but not realize you feel like shit cause you’re still young. Then you hit 40 and now you feel like shit but you think it’s cause you’re getting older. It’s part of life. You don’t sleep well. You always are “sick” with something, but it’s just allergies. Then things start falling apart health-wise and you chalk up it again to getting older. And it’s true… things you don’t expect all of sudden pop-up. But then you’re 50 and you’re on medications to control this and that. But you tell yourself, my mom had to take that or my dad took this too. And then you’re 60 and maybe have grandkids. They want to play but it hurts to get on the floor to play with them. So you just tell them you’re old and old people don’t play. Now you’re on even more meds just to get through the day! Why? You could have made the decision to get healthy today. Get moving today! Change your habits, TODAY!

Do you feel me? Does it make sense? A little challenge today will change you for the better for tomorrow. Everyone will grow old but that doesn’t mean you have to be weak and decrepit. Getting old is part of life. You don’t stay young forever. But you can stay young-ish mentally and physically. You can slow down some of the inevitable. You can be spry and fit.

You can be HEALTHY! 

It truly is a lifestyle change. And the change can take a while. But when you get there, you’ll know it’s worth it!